The other day, I was thinking of what to bring to school for my boy’s lunch. He has extra classes few days in a week, so he has to have his lunch at school in those days. Luckily, the school is just in front of our apartment, so I usually deliver his lunch to his school just after school finishes and before his supplementary classes begin, so he can always have warm (and sometimes still very hot) home cooked food for his lunch. He doesn’t like to buy food for lunch at the school canteen since he doesn’t like the varieties of the food. It’s ok for me since I prefer him to eat home cooked food whenever possible as its healthier and cleaner than outside food.

I usually pack him rice and fish or chicken and veggie, but I know that sometimes he’s bored eating white steam rice for lunch, so I try to think of something different for his lunch. That particular day, I was searching for a recipe in the internet, and I stumbled upon this recipe which looked so yummy and tempting. The dish used noodles, tofu, and eggs……………..what a perfect combination in one package for a healthy lunch (I also added carrot and spring onion for extra vegetables).

The boy and I loved the texture of the noodles after the dish was fried, the noodles were so crunchy and crispy that we couldn’t stop snacking and munching the fried noodles. You can use any kind of noodles including instant noodles, and if you use instant noodles, there is no need to cook them first.

Ingredients:

3 white firm tofu (3 X 165 gr)

3 garlic

2 tsp salt

150 gr dry egg noodles

15 spring onion, minced

1 carrot, grated

12 quail eggs, cook and peel

25 gr breadcrumb

1 tbsp fried shallots (optional)

2 eggs

oil to fry the tofu balls

Method:

Using mortar and pestle, mash garlic and salt until they form a paste, then transfer to a medium bowl

Cook egg noodle according to the directions in the package, strain, then place in a plate. Cut the noodles into shorter lengths using kitchen scissors (if using instant noodles, skip this step and just smash the noodles into smaller parts)

Make tofu balls and add quail eggs in the middle by following these instructions: first, take one scoop of the tofu mixture with a spoon and place it in your hand

Make a ball with the palm of your hand

Flatten the tofu ball

Add 1 quail egg on top

Add another spoonful of tofu mixture on top of the quail egg

Roll the mixture in the palm of your hand until it forms a firm round shape

Dip the tofu ball into the egg and coat it lightly with the egg

Then roll the tofu ball in the noodles several times until it is coated thoroughly with noodles

Do it again for the rest of the tofu mixture

Deep fry the tofu balls in batches until they turn into golden brown

Enjoy the tofu balls with chili sauce

This dish can be served as snacks or even for lunch. It is best to serve it hot because the noodles are still crispy and nothing beats crispy noodles dipped in chili sauce………………….